Bike ride will press Congress on gun laws

Published 9:51 pm, Friday, January 25, 2013

Sandy Hook resident Monte Frank is an organizer and one of 26 bicycle riders in the Sandy Hook Ride on Washington that will be cycling from Sandy Hook Elementary School to Washington, D.C., on March 9 in support of what the organization's Facebook page called "common sense gun safety legislation." Photographed in front of his home in Newtown on Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. less

Sandy Hook resident Monte Frank is an organizer and one of 26 bicycle riders in the Sandy Hook Ride on Washington that will be cycling from Sandy Hook Elementary School to Washington, D.C., on March 9 in ... more

NEWTOWN -- The message of Team 26 will be simple. Ride the nearly 400 miles from Newtown to Washington, D.C., to press Congress on the need to pass reasonable gun safety legislation in response to the horrific Dec. 14 shooting of 20 students and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Team 26 is comprised of elite cyclists from throughout the East Coast, including three from Newtown, who will ride on behalf of the 26 victims. The ride came out of late-night haunts when sleep would not come to Sandy Hook resident Monte Frank, whose daughter is a former student of teacher Victoria Soto, who was killed.

"The goal here is to use cycling as a tool to keep Congress focused on the issue at hand," he said. "That is, to make sure common-sense gun safety legislation is passed so it helps keep another Sandy Hook from happening."

The cyclists, who are all competitive or professional riders, will leave Newtown on March 9 and arrive in Washington, D.C., March 12.

They will be led by a Newtown police officer and cruiser.

The participants will include a former NCAA champion, a Junior World Championships National Team member, a U.S. National Team member, a Canadian National Team member, a Masters National champion, and state and regional champions.

More Information

Join the cause26 cyclists will ride from Newtown to Washington, D.C., March 9 to 12.They want to build support for common-sense gun safety laws."Like" the group's Facebook page, http://www.Facebook.com/SandyHookRideOnWashington.Sign petition when it is posted.

"Our team members have all been impacted in a very personal and tragic way by the gun violence at the Sandy Hook School, including the loss of neighbors, a daughter's former teacher, our children's principal, and a child," he wrote.

"We all have friends and family who know teachers or have children who survived that dark day but are now struggling with the painful memories."

As part of the ride, the team is encouraging people to contact their representatives to make sure their voices demanding reasonable gun safety legislation are heard.

In addition, cyclists are contacting members of Congress to voice their support for the ride.

Bill Muzzio's two daughters attended Sandy Hook School and now attend Newtown's intermediate and middle schools.

For his piece about why he wanted to ride, Muzzio wrote, "I want Newtown to be remembered for what we did to overcome this horrific tragedy and not what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary."

He wrote that he wanted to make the world a safer place for his girls to be.

He said Thursday that hopes people "like" the Facebook page so when a petition is created they will be alerted and able to sign it before the ride begins. The group will have support team of six cars and ride 100 miles a day, except for the last day, when it will be a little less.

Roxbury's Stephen Badge said he's making the ride to press for common-sense gun safety legislation.

"My wife is a school psychologist in Sherman, and I want to prevent the next shooting from happening," Badger said. "We can't let this happen again."

This is not a fundraising mission, he said.

"One of the things that really inspired me," he said, "was hearing how individuals really felt they had to do something. This gives individuals a voice."